Thanksgiving Journal 2020

Today is December 31st, 2020 New Year’s Eve, and I am sharing with you my Annual Gratitude Journal since it has become a tradition. It’s about 8:50 pm as I’m writing this. I’m at home by myself amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, and I’m dwelling on God’s blessings with a big smile on my face. Let me share what I’m grateful for this year. And I want to start with you: my podcast listeners who leave reviews on iTunes and watch my content on YouTube and to all my blog readers… I say thank you! Without you, my Christian ministry would not be where it is today. I will be praying for you at the end of my gratitude entry.

I’m thankful for everyone who donated in 2020 to support Online Discipleship For Women, my Christian ministry dedicated to helping alleviate suicide among women globally by sharing hope in Christ and encouraging women to create a joyful life by embracing God’s word. Your donations make a difference.

Let me start from the beginning. In 2019, I wanted to become a TEDx speaker and share my idea worth spreading about grief and its value in the process of healing trauma. On January 10th, 2020 I was chosen to be a TEDx speaker at the live audition for TEDx Marietta Square. I delivered my talk called “The Healing Power of Self-Pity” on September 19th, 2020 at a virtual event amid the pandemic. The video is available on YouTube. I am grateful that my dream of delivering a TEDx talk came true. Sharing my story through my talk, from the depths of my heart, without any pretense, completely vulnerable, I felt as f I appeared naked on a global stage. I shared the intimate details of my soul I had never shared before. And it transformed me, which ultimately resulted in an explosion of content on my blog. I am grateful.

I am grateful that after all the content explosions this year, I now have 1,083,934 words of content on my Christian blog for women, all of which I personally wrote, edited, and published for you. There are no employees or freelancers here, no board of directors or interns or volunteers… It’s just me who is doing all the work because I love God and I love helping you. In the last three years, since I started Online Discipleship For Women, I birthed 177 spiritual poems and shared all of them for free on my poetry page. I wrote 52 Biblical devotionals and gave them all for free to my Christian community in a form of an ebook. I created 95 shirts, sweatshirts, baseball raglans, and other types of encouraging Christian merch on Amazon. I personally wrote 1083000 words of helpful scriptures-based content on this blog, and 83610 people read it across 208 countries. I produced almost 300 YouTube videos, and they’ve been watched 223946 times worldwide. My Christian podcast The Anna Szabo Show has been downloaded tens of thousands of times globally across 18 different syndication platforms. I produced 22 paintings, each with a spiritual tale, and built a Christin store of Etsy. I created 232 designs of Christian apparel for women on TeeSpring to encourage and empower Christian women with the word of God. I am grateful.

If you want to support me, Buy Me a Coffee.

I’m grateful for everyone who bought me a coffee and even three coffees and also wrote me gratitude notes, sharing how my ministry has helped them grow closer to God. 

I am grateful for everyone who left thoughtful and heartfelt blog comments and YouTube comments letting me know how my work impacted their lives. Your comments help me see how God is working. Your comments, podcast reviews, and donations with gratitude notes attached help grow my own faith. Thank you.

I’m grateful for my amazing 37th Birthday celebration on January 18th this year. It was a vegan feast, which I personally prepared for my friends. I cooked a wide variety of plant-based dishes, and everyone loved all the food! We had many poets at my Birthday party, so we got to share our spoken word art, and my best friend Maria performed a handwritten poem, which she dedicated to my boldness, and this entire year the poem has been in my nightstand drawer so that I could get encouraged by it often. I know that my 38th Birthday will be celebrated with Maria, and we are going to be socially-isolated but very joyful.

I am grateful that this year, even in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, God has kept me healthy. In fact, this year, I’ve enjoyed the best health of my life, and I’m almost 40! In April, I los 22 lb and have kept the weight off, so I am at my ideal 116 lb, size zero, and I feel very strong and energized. After completing many prolonged water fasts, this year, I discovered dry fasting. At least once a week, I fast from both food and water for 24-48 hours. I didn’t eat or drink anything, and this holistic health practice allowed me to enjoy the best wellness I’ve ever had. And it’s a very special blessing because I used to be very sick and even was hospitalized for up to 21 days multiple times a year, year after year. Dry fasting was a game-changer for my health, and I wrote thousands of words of helpful content about prolonged fasting on my blog here to help other people. I even started receiving donations from the fasting blog posts. My heart is full of gratitude for the fact that I was able to discover and deploy the fasting lifestyle, write about it, help others, and promote health.

I am grateful that in 2020, I was able to take many solo trips and go to the best beaches in America seven times! As a kid, I didn’t get to go to the beach but once. At 18, I traveled to the ocean alone internationally after winning a fully paid all-inclusive trip in a beauty pageant in 2001. Taking myself to the beach this year so many times helped me grow my faith and heal my trauma. I wrote a detailed blog post with pictures of my solo travel adventures. I am grateful for both the opportunity to travel and also for my willingness to travel solo.

I am grateful that this year, I worked out almost every day, started practicing yoga, running, and even doing back bridges for the first time in 30 years! As I’ve continued healing my trauma after my third divorce in 2017, I’ve continued improving my relationship with my body as described in an incredible book I read this year called “The Body Keeps The Score.” I’m thankful for my body, and even wrote a poem about it. 

I am grateful that in 2020 I read 22 new books! Reading is living for me, and I’ve been able to read books while walking my 10000 steps a day outside or at home on the trampoline. It’s been a year of growth and learning. I read about God, self-improvement, fasting, money, and other topics I love. Also, I donated 16 books to a library this year, and I am grateful for both being able to buy and give away books. Reading about personal development helped me as a teen cope with abuse at home and helped me later in life to graduate from four universities, three of them with high honors, and two of them on a full scholarship. I’m grateful for my genuine love for books.

I’m grateful that I was able to permanently delete my social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yelp. The only place to connect with me personally now is my blog, as well as my Christian podcast and my YouTube channel. If you want to know why I deleted my social media, feel free to ask in the comments on my blog or YouTube and I will be glad to share. It’s been a very wise decision that’s improved my life, health, relationships, and happiness.

I am grateful that Joe Biden will be our President two days after my 38th birthday. I started a Prayer for America on my blog, and praying for my country really helped me get through 2020 with all of its political drama and Trump-inflicted trauma. My hope is that in our Georgia runoff election we can flip the senate blue and heal our country. I thank God for Joe Biden, who’s been, like Esther, called for such a time as this. So I am grateful for all the other elections he lost in the past because I believe President Biden is exactly who can lead our wounded country through this tragic season. I am grateful that I voted.

I am grateful for journaling, working out daily, cooking at home, eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables every day, reading, meditation, 10000 steps a day, self-massage, yoga, trampoline exercises, keeping my home clean and organized, my frugal money habits, and all my other healthy habits that have helped me thrive in 2020.

I am grateful for my friends who are precious jewels. In 2020, I got to spend a lot of quality time with each of my friends, one at a time. That’s what helped me realize how much I love vulnerable and real in-person, meaningful relationships. And I deleted my social media.

My 2020 has been a year of healing, and I was even able to produce a short autobiography, which is called “Getting To Know Anna Szabo.” With all of its ups and downs, 2020 is another amazing year I am grateful for, and that you for being a part of it!

Let me pray for you.

Father God,

I am praying for the woman reading now.

Bless her, God!

Bring her peace and joy.

Fill her heart with faith and zeal for life.

Reveal your unconditional love to her.

Comfort her during seasons of doubt and fear.

Promote her financially.

Strengthen her spirit and body.

Heal her heart.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.